Saturday, February 09, 2013

The Elephant in the Gun-Grabbers' Room

Violent crime in the United States peaked in 1991. Since then, 41 states have eased restrictions on concealed carry with 24 of those states adopting "shall issue" laws, which require the issuance of permits to qualified, law-abiding citizens.

In addition, the number of privately-owned guns has risen by more than 110 million.

[An] analysis of data within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System reveals 10 empirical and interrelated reasons why Mr. Obama’s assumptions are false and why his top two priorities are dead wrong:

1. The rates of gun-related homicide, suicide and accidental death have decreased by 44 percent, 19 percent and 69 percent respectively since 1993 (for all races and ages).
2. After declining substantially over 10 years, gun suicides rates have significantly increased each year since 2006 (for all races and ages).

3. Since 1993 the rate of gun suicides has been higher than both gun homicides and accidental gun deaths combined (all races and ages).
4. The ratio of gun suicides to gun homicides for white Americans is 3.1 to 1 and is the highest across all races, with whites aged 15 to 34 being most at risk.
5. Americans aged 15 to 24 are the most at risk for gun homicide, but the ratio of gun homicides to accidental deaths for this group was just 1 to 3 (all races).
6. The majority of American gun homicides (54 percent) take the lives of black Americans, who constitute just 14 percent of the total population.
7. Homicide is the leading cause of death only for black Americans aged 15 to 34, with 87.4 percent of all homicides for this group caused by guns.
8. The ratio of gun homicides to gun suicides for black Americans is over 6.1 to 1, but for non-black Americans it is just 1 to 3 (a difference of nearly 20 times).
9. The ratio of gun homicides to deaths from flu/pneumonia for black Americans is 1.1 to 1, for non-black Americans, it is just 0.1 to 1 (a difference of 10 times).
10. The ratio of gun homicides to accidental death not due to firearms for black Americans is .50 to 1. For non-black Americans, it is just .05 to 1 (a difference of 10 times).